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Class__:PS 35„Qi_ 
Boolc„__JLiaL4^ 
Copyright N^ _ 

COPVRIGHT DEPOSrr 



TKe Legend 

of 

Laddin's RocK 

By 
Alice Stead Binney 




The IQnickerbocker Press 
I902 



> >^j 



3 D J 



THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRE8$, 

Tvi^o Co«K8 Recsived 

OCT. 1^4 190^ 

COPVIWQHT EMTRV 

0LAS8 a Wd Ho. 
COPY Bl 






Copyright, igo2 

BY 

ALICE STEAD BINNEY 



DEDICATED TO 

MR. WILLIAM L. MARKS 

of 

LADDIN'S ROCK FARM 



For the sake of the " Farm,"— of each valley and 

glade, 
Of its ever green beauty in sunlight and shade ; 
Of the tramps o'er the hills and the strolls by the 

lake, 
Of the wild woodland rides on the swift rolling 

break. 

For the sake of the " Kitchen's" hospitable cheer, 
Of the merry good times there through many a year, 
Of spirits congenial and host so benign, — 
For the best of all sakes, — for "Auld Lang Syne." 



Xist ot ffUustrattons 



PAGE 



Hilda ..... Frontispiece 



"Sunny Hair will Come Again in Three 



Days " 



14 



And Laddin's Rock Still Stands and 
Guards the Quiet Valley " . .26 



^be Xegent) of Xabt)iiV9 IRocf^ 

Chapter One 

r^ORNELIUS LABDEN, 

or, as his neighbors care- 
lessly called him, " Old Lad- 
din," sat by his cabin door, 
placidly smoking his long 
' pipe. Only a careful ob- 
server would have detected 
the air of expectancy in the 
old man's manner, — yet 
this was his wedding-day ! This 
ruddy-faced, mild-spoken man of 
fifty was that very evening to be 
married to a girl of seventeen, and 
any moment might disclose to his 
eyes the party of new settlers in 




2 ^be XegenD of XaDDin's TRocJ? 

whose care she had travelled from 
the Fatherland. 

Nearly a year before Laddin, had 
received a letter from an old friend 
in Holland, begging him to care 
for his young daughter, who would 
be left friendless and almost pen- 
niless when his death, now momen- 
tarily expected, occurred. And 
the kind-hearted man, remember- 
ing the little child with whom he 
had played when she was a flaxen- 
haired baby, sent word for her to 
join a party of colonists who were 
coming to a grant near his farm in 
the spring. Afterthoughts had 
brought to the mind of Cornelius 
the fact that Hilda must now be 
seventeen, and too much a woman 
to become a foster-daughter to her 
bachelor protector. So he sent 
another message to the burgher of 
the town in which she lived, — that 



Zbc ILegcnD of ILaOOin's IRocF? 3 

Hilda had better come prepared to 
marry him, and make a home, if 
not a fortune, in the new land. 
And now, as he sat in the neat 
dooryard which his industry had 
developed out of the rough, though 
fertile. New England hillside, his 
usually placid mind was sore per- 
plexed, and it would be difificult to 
describe the mixed emotions which 
crowded upon it. 

Meanwhile, six miles westward, 
a band of settlers stopped in a 
green valley to water their tired 
horses and to rest before the last 
stage of their weary journey over 
the rough country. It was a beau- 
tiful, fertile stretch, not a mile in- 
land from the Sound. The road 
that crossed it then was almost 
the same as that which has been 
known for two hundred years as the 
Post Road. It was just east of the 



4 TLbc %CQC\\t> Of XaDt)ln*6 IRock 

settlement of Greenwich, and down 
the steep hillside which bounds it 
on the south, nearly a century later, 
one of the descendants of those 
hardy pioneers was to ride a faith- 
ful steed in a wild dash for escape 
from British soldiers. On all sides 
of the valley, except where it wound 
down to the water, were thickly 
wooded slopes. It was a lovely, 
restful scene, and to-day is as pleas- 
ing and welcome to the tourist as 
it was on that spring evening to 
the tired eyes of the Dutch girl, 
who stole away from her compan- 
ions and sat down to weep for 
very loneliness ; and yet, withal, to 
drink in the loveliness of the rolling 
country, so unlike her own fiat 
Holland. 

All the previous day Hilda had 
spent in one of the wagons, too 
sick to walk with the others, and 



Zbc UegcnD of XaODtiVa IRock 5 

to-day, until now, she had been too 
unhappy to find anything beautiful 
in the surroundings of the strange 
life to which she was going. She 
had only the dimmest recollections 
of the man to whom she was being 
sent, and the thought of the hard 
life, and of her marriage to a man 
as old as her beloved father had 
been was not encouraging to the 
merry-hearted girl. 

As she sat and brooded, how- 
ever, the silent beauty of the scene, 
the soft, woody air, and her sturdy 
youthful blood, now rapidly recov- 
ering its vigor, — all had their effect, 
and she almost smiled. Suddenly, 
a loud, whirring sound close to her 
face caused her to spring to her 
feet with a cry of alarm. The 
scream instantly brought to her 
side the old guide who was in 
charge of the party, and at the 



6 ^be %CQcnt> ot Xa&Mn's IRocft 

same moment Hilda turned and 
beheld the cause of her fright. 

Never had she looked upon such 
a man ! Young, tall, straight as an 
arrow, and lithe as a sapling. His 
black hair hung long upon his shoul- 
ders, and out of his swarthy face 
shone stern black eyes, which be- 
trayed neither fear for his action 
nor anxiety for its effect. He 
walked directly to the guide and 
spoke in a strange language ; and 
the guide in turn translated what 
he had said, to Hilda. 

*' Tell Sunny Hair that Lone 
Heart never shoots a woman ! His 
arrow was for the rabbit." 

As the guide spoke, the young 
Indian walked away, and Hilda 
watched him with ever-increasing 
interest. The free, graceful move- 
ments of his lean body had a 
strange fascination, and showed to 



Jibe %CQcr\t> of UaODitrs IRock 7 

perfection the tunic of skins, with 
its blue bead embroidery, whose 
skill and beauty her eyes at once 
discerned. On his feet were 
leather moccasins, and at his waist 
hung an ingenious quiver full 
of arrows. As she watched, the 
guide called to her to take her 
place in the wagon, and reluctantly 
she did so. But the procession 
was scarcely started when out of 
the bushes once more emerged the 
Indian with the rabbit in his hand, 
and, stepping quickly to the wagon, 
he handed it to the bewildered girl. 
The guide looked frowningly up, 
and spoke to the Indian in his own 
tongue, while he pointed to the ex- 
treme upper corner of the valley, 
where Hilda could faintly distin- 
guish the outlines of some queer- 
looking tents and a little rising 
smoke. But the young brave shook 



8 ^be %CQcnt> ot XaDDliVs IRock 

his head, and, with one searching 
look at Hilda, turned and strode 
away down the valley toward the 
Sound. 

As the little party struggled up 
the road, leaving the valley, the 
euide came and sat beside Hilda 
and said to her : 

" Beware of Lone Heart ! He 
is husband to old Cos Cob's daugh- 
ter, and she is a bad woman. All 
the tribe fear her. Lone Heart 
did not wish to marry her, and she 
bewitched all his arrows so that he 
came home every night with no 
game, and he had to marry her, for 
only successful hunters ever reach 
the Happy Hunting Ground. If 
she knew he spoke to another wo- 
man she would kill him, — and you 
too ! The father is chief still, but 
he is old and she controls the en- 
tire tribe of Quinnhititucks." 



XLbc XegcnD ot XaDMn's IRocft 9 

" So he, too, had to marry some- 
one he did not love," murmured 
Hilda to herself, and she drew the 
broad plaits of flaxen hair about 
her shoulders, and thought of the 
name he had given her. 



Chapter Two 




|WO months had passed 
since that early spring 
day when Hilda 
reached her new home. 
The two or three 
neighboring farmer 
folk had come to see 
''the little frau," and 
Hilda and her husband 
had settled into a placid, contented 
existence which rather surprised 
them both. The little garden flour- 
ished, and the pigs were fattening 
finely out in the grove under the 
oak trees. A cow had been added 
to their comforts, and Hilda worked 
right merrily over her household 



Zbe legend ot XaODfn's TRock n 

duties. She had walked and 
climbed for miles around their 
cabin, and Cornelius had taken her 
to the top of the hill whence they 
got a fine view of the waters of 
the Sound, with the Long Island 
hills blue and hazy in the distance. 
But it was she who first led him to 
the top of the *' Great Rock," and 
then coaxed him down the perilous 
path into the beautiful ravine at 
the bottom. When she told her 
neighbors of this visit they seemed 
almost terrified, and warned her 
that the Indians had many legends 
concerning the rock, and that the ra- 
vine was sacred ground, where only 
those engaged in certain mysterious 
ceremonies were allowed to tread. 

The rocky hill rose on three 
sides, like any of its neighbors, in a 
fairly easy slope from its foot, but 
on the other side it ended in a pre- 



12 dbc TLcQcn^ of XaDDin's IRocft 

cipitous rocky bluff, a hundred feet 
high, with its perpendicular surface 
broken here and there by great jut- 
ting crags ; and at its foot lay a 
dark ravine, awful in its silent 
beauty, with giant hemlocks whose 
tops were just above your head as 
you gazed over the edge. A silvery 
stream ran through the valley, and 
on the other side you could dimly 
see a woody hill rising. A thick 
carpeting of fern and moss covered 
the ground. Seldom did buzz of 
bee or song of bird disturb the still- 
ness, and in those shaded depths 
the air was always fragrant and cool. 
To this spot Hilda carried her 
linen and clothes, to wash them in 
the sparkling stream, and here, 
standing with plump, bare feet in 
the water, and flaxen hair falling 
over her shoulders, she stood one 
summer morning, when once again 



^be %CQcnb of Xa^mn's IRocF? 13 

she felt those searching eyes upon 
her, and turned to find Lone Heart 
beside her. He spoke to her in 
her own tongue this time : 

" Lone Heart will always find 
Sunny Hair ! Old Guide cannot 
hide her. Her hair shines over 
the hills, and Lone Heart can al- 
ways see her face again." 

He spoke in a deep, quiet voice, 
and no smile illumined his face ; yet 
Hilda stood with drooping head, 
silent and enthralled, and no sense 
of fear or guilt arose within her to 
break the spell. 

Then suddenly she noticed that 
one of his feet was bare, and as he 
dipped it in the water, she saw it 
was badly cut and bruised. With 
true womanly concern she tore from 
one of her sheets a bandage, and 
started to bind it up. 

Lone Heart contemptuously drew 



14 ^be XcQcnD of Xa&Nn'a iRoch 

his foot aside, but as her hand 
touched him he turned again and 
leaned against a tree, while she 
knelt and deftly covered the bleed- 
ing flesh. 

Then she picked up her bundle 
of linen and left him. No word 
had she spoken, but the look in 
her eyes drew him, and once more 
he turned and said to her : 

" Sunny Hair will come again in 
three days ! " 

And so the summer passed, and 
the young wife met her Indian lover 
in the ravine every few days. She 
grew pale and quiet, and Cornelius 
began to grow anxious concerning 
the young creature, who was fast 
growing dearer than life itself to 
him. Twice, Poor Hilda, in a fit 
of deep repentance, tried to con- 
fess to the simple, kindly soul, but 
he, in his unsuspicion, gave her no 



trbc UceenD ot XaDDin'a IRocft 15 

help, and she refrained, thinking, 
in her returning complacency : 

" Why disturb his peace of mind ? 
Lone Heart will not come when 
the winter is here, and I shall be 
so lonely ! " 

Once, too, her husband met Lone 
Heart near their cabin, and when 
Hilda told him his name, he re- 
membered the story she had told 
him of the arrow, — down by Green- 
wich, and he took the young 
brave into the cabin, and persuaded 
him to stay for their simple eve- 
ning meal. But Lone Heart took 
no grain of salt with his food, and 
it was with a darkening face that 
he left the doorway. 

After that day Hilda went twice 
to their trysting-place without meet- 
ing him, but the third day he came. 
There they talked till the moon 
rose, and a few silvery stars shone 



i6 ^be XegcuD ot UaDDln's IRocft 

through the trees on the eastern 
hill. And Lone Heart held her 
hands and kissed her lips, and he 
told her of the cabin he had built 
for her away out on the *' Long 
Point," where the waters sparkled 
and dashed on the pebbly beach, 
and where her own canoe already 
lay under the sedge. And Hilda 
promised to go, and then Lone 
Heart walked with her nearly to 
the neighbor's cabin where she was 
to spend the night, for Cornelius 
had gone to New Amsterdam to 
buy her a spinning-wheel and would 
not return till the following day. 

And neither of them noticed the 
Indian woman who waited in the 
shadow of one of the hemlocks, and 
who listened to their soft words, and 
then followed them past the door of 
Hilda's own cabin and disappeared 
in the gathering gloom of night. 



Chapter Three 




OWN in the green valley 
where Hilda first met 
Lone Heart the Indians 
sat in solemn conclave 
round the big fire. The 
harvest moon was high 
over head, and still the 
men sat and talked in 
half-whispered words. 
Ever and anon a woman glided 
into the centre of the group, and 
in low, impassioned tones urged 
the braves to vengeance on " the 
white squaw." In the name of 
their chief, she called on them to 
revenge his daughter. 

Then she hinted darkly at Cor- 
nelius's visit to New Amsterdam, 
and its possible object. '' Had 
17 



i8 Zbc TLcQcn^ of XaDDin'6 TRock 

not the settlers all along between 
Greenwich and Stamford built their 
cabins on Indian ground? And 
now the Dutchman's wife washed 
her linen in the sacred stream by the 
Great Rock ! Would they have for 
their chief the friend of the Dutch- 
man ? For Cos Cob was old and 
no son had he, — so that Lone 
Heart should follow him. The 
Spirit of the Sun in the white girl's 
hair had bewitched him ! They 
must free him from her power, 
or he would betray his people to 
the usurpers, and Cornelius would 
bring a party of settlers to occupy 
their valley." 

And down in the ravine at the 
foot of the Rock, with its jutting 
crags over his head, Lone Heart 
lay and dreamed of Hilda, nor gave 
one thought to his Indian wife in 
her wigwam. 



o 





Chapter Four 

VER the hilly country, in 
the gray of the dawn, rode 
Cornelius on his old 
^^^ white horse. All night 
he had ridden in the 
moonlight in his impa- 
tience to reach his home, and to 
show to his little wife the treas- 
ures in his saddle-bags. Some 
colonists on their way to one 
of the Massachusetts settlements 
would pass near the cabin in a few 
days and would bring the long- 
wished -for spinning-wheel; but 
Cornelius's tired face brightened 
as he pictured Hilda's pleasure 
when he should give her the 
19 



20 ^bc %CQcnt> of EaDOin's IRocR 

pretty kerchief and the new sabots 
lying now so near his knee. And 
as he passed the valley near Green- 
wich he noticed the wigwams, all 
quiet, and with a yawn envied the 
Red Men their hard beds and 
their resting limbs. 

On he rode, and the rosy flush 
of the breaking day spread over 
the waters of the Sound. The 
bays running inland almost to the 
rough road over which he travelled 
seemed to wake into sudden life as 
the meadow-larks flitted hither and 
thither through the salt grass, 
their musical notes calling forth 
a joyous echo in the man's heart. 
Then he turned into the woods, 
and robins called from tree to 
tree, and as he climbed the last 
hill, the sun rose, and with the 
new day Cornelius felt he had 
commenced a new life, for not 



Zbc XcgcnD of ILaDMn's IRock 21 

till that moment had he realized 
how dear the little home and the 
little wife had become. 

He reached the open door at 
last, and the sweet autumn air still 
held no hint of sorrow or danger. 
His eyes looked eagerly for that 
one sweet, familiar figure. Hur- 
riedly he dropped his bundles, and, 
dismounting, walked into the cabin. 
It was empty. He passed into the 
little bedroom beyond ; that also 
was empty, and the bed had not 
been slept in. Before he had time 
to remember that Hilda was to 
spend the night at another house, 
a noise in the other room reached 
his ear, and he walked out to find 
himself facing a dozen stalwart In- 
dians, with faces painted fiercely, 
and quivers full of bristling arrows. 
Promptly the leader spoke : 

*' Give us the white woman ! 



22 XLbc %CQC\\t> of XaDOin's TRocK 

Where is she ? She has angered 
the Spirit of the Great Rock, and 
she has stolen the Indian from his 
people. Her body must be thrown 
into the sacred stream, and the 
devils must be driven out of her 
hair that Lone Heart may be free ! " 
With these words he raised sig- 
nificantly the tomahawk in his hand. 
The Dutchman listened with sink- 
ing heart and trembling frame. H e 
knew it was useless to argue ; he 
could not convince them, — their 
slight knowledge of his language 
made that impossible. And to 
add to his despair he had noticed 
the scattered clothing on the floor. 
She was, no doubt, at that very 
moment in the ravine at work. She 
expected him that evening, and had 
gone early to the stream so as to 
finish before his return. Then he 
remembered that she was to sleep 
L.oFC. 



Hbc %CQcntf of XaDMirs "Rock 23 

at the neighbor's house, and, turn- 
ing to the intruders, endeavored to 
convince them that they were mis- 
taken, and at the same time to 
throw them off the scent. He told 
them of his journey, and pointed 
out to them the cabin, half a mile 
away, in which Hilda had spent the 
night. He insisted that Lone Heart 
had been but once to their home. 
But before he had finished, they 
started to run to the other cabin. 

Now to save his Hilda ! Through 
the window at the back of the house 
he called his poor old horse, and, 
mounting, was soon urging him by 
words and blows down the other 
side of the hill. He dared not ride 
into the ravine from the easy side, — 
he would be in sight ! He must 
push his way through the woods 
and up the west side of the Rock, 
and then call to her from the top. 



24 XLbc XeaenD of ILaDDln's IRocft 

Could she find a hiding-place 
where those savage eyes could not 
discover her ? Surely, yes ! She 
knew the ravine so well ! Did she 
not go there every day ? And with 
this thought came another that sent 
the blood to his placid face, and 
made his heart thump madly against 
his breast. Did Lone Heart also 
go to the Rock every day? And 
did her paling face and wistful eyes 
only help to prove what the Indian 
had said ? 

He was not tired now ! As he 
rode fiercely on, he heard behind 
him wild yells and shrieks, and still 
harder he urged the faithful crea- 
ture. Up the incline, panting, 
breathless, horse and rider straining 
forward, at last they reached the 
ledge, and Cornelius looked over 
into the ravine ! 

There she is ! Lying in her In- 



Zbc Xe^enD of XaDOin's IRocft 25 

dian's arms — her golden hair fall- 
ing over his shoulder — one arm 
about his neck. No sound of dan- 
ger has reached them in that se- 
cluded spot, and there they have 
tarried to bid farewell to this, their 
beloved trysting-place. Beside her 
lies her cloak and a small bundle 
of clothing. The stream sparkles 
beneath the low-slanting sunbeams, 
and the hemlocks sways gently in 
the early morning breeze. 

In a hundredth part of a second 
the whole picture was impressed 
upon his brain, and in one great 
sob the heart of Cornelius broke. 

Behind him, close behind him, 
the angry yells of the pursuers 
sane out. He mus^ call to her. 
He turned his head — the leader 
of the Indians was upon him. 
That last yell awakened the lov- 
ers from their dream, and starting 



26 ^be XeaenD of XaODin's IRocl? 

to their feet, they turned and saw 
him. A cry broke from the fright- 
ened girl. The sound of her voice 
loosed his tongue, and as he called 
to her, '* Hilda, my beloved ! " Cor- 
nelius struck his horse fiercely with 
his spur, and man and beast sprang 
together over the precipice. 

No wild leap for life did that 
ill-fated man make. No chance of 
escape from savage pursuers did 
he seek, but, in one dread instant, 
so unbearable had life become that 
death at the bottom of the ravine 
was sweeter than death at the 
hands of his enemies only because 
it came one moment sooner. 

As horse and rider leaped from 
the Rock, from the lower end of 
the ravine came the weird notes of 
an Indian incantation, and the wife 
of Lone Heart came towards them, 
singing and waving her arms. 



XLbc %cQcn^ ot ILaD&in's IRocft 27 

Almost carrying the fainting girl, 
the desperate Indian struggled to 
reach the narrow trail that led out 
of the valley from the other end, a 
shower of arrows falling on their 
heads from above. Suddenly a 
deep, rumbling noise was heard. 
The great hemlocks quivered ; a 
fierce wind wailed and howled 
through the ravine ; the terrified 
savages fled. 

But the Indian woman's voice 
rose exultant over all, as the great 
jutting crags split away from the 
face of the Rock and came crash- 
ing down into the ravine, bearing 
beneath their tremendous weight 
Cornelius and his horse. Sunny 
Hair and her lover, and the venge- 
ful wife of Lone Heart. 

And Laddin's Rock still stands 
and guards the quiet valley, and 



28 Zbc ILeaenD ot lLaC>Mn's IRock 

hundreds of Interested visitors have 
stood and gazed down into the 
green and shaded depths, and won- 
dered how lonor the bisf boulders 
have lain at the base of the preci- 
pice. In the cracks in the face of 
the giant Rock, where once the 
jutting ledges hung, great trees 
have grown, and seem to thrive 
with but a handful of earth to 
hold their roots. And the beauti- 
ful trees whose tops now fan our 
faces as we stand on the topmost 
ledge, are the grandchildren of the 
same hemlocks beneath whose 
shade Hilda met her lover. 

But no Indian ever again ven- 
tured into the accursed place, for 
not only did the Spirit of the Rock 
punish the guilty pair who had 
profaned the sacred stream, but she 
who had brought vengeance upon 
them perished with them. And 



Zbc Xe^enD of XaDMtVs IRocJ? 29 

for generations it was believed 
that, as the morning breeze passed 
along the valley, the frightened 
cry of the Dutch girl and the wild 
sone of the Indian woman both 
rose above the ripple of the stream ; 
and that at the full of the harvest 
moon Hilda and Lone Heart again 
visited their tryst, to wait for the 
dawn and to welcome poor Laddin 
into their deep, deep grave at the 
foot of the Great Rock. 



OCT 24 1902 



Ill' 

015 873 192 7 






